COLLECTION NAME:
Archivision Base to Module 9
Record
Preferred Title:
Villa Romana del Casale
Alternate Title:
Roman villa at Piazza Armerina
Image View:
Close view of the large fountain in the middle of the garden which displays a statue of a cupid
Creator:
unknown (Ancient Roman)
Location:
site: Villa Romana del Casale (Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy)
GPS:
+37.364722+14.334722
Date:
ca. 310-325 (creation)
Cultural Context:
Roman
Style Period:
Imperial (Roman)
Work Type 1:
villa
Work Type 2:
excavation (site)
Classification:
architecture
Material:
mosaic; stone
Technique:
construction (assembling)
Subjects:
agriculture; architectural exteriors; decorative arts; Roman Empire; manor; farm; estate; farming; fountain
Description:
Villa Romana del Casale is a Roman villa located about 5 km outside the town of Piazza Armerina. It contains the richest, largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site [this is the form of the name used by UNESCO.] The Villa was constructed on the remains of an older villa in the first quarter of the fourth century A.D., probably as the center of a huge latifundium (agricultural estate) covering the entire surrounding area. How long the villa kept this role is not known, maybe for less that 150 years, but the complex remained inhabited and a village grew around it, named Platia, derived from the word palatium (palace). The site was finally abandoned for good when a landslide covered the villa in the 12th century AD. The size of the villa and the amount and quality of its artwork indicate that it was the center of such a latifundium, whose owner was probably a member of senatorial class if not of the imperial family itself, i.e., the absolute upper class
Collection:
Archivision Addition Module Three
Identifier:
1A3-R-S-VE-1-B4
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.
Villa Romana del Casale
